“No… What have we done? Why…?” Eumith muttered, her words echoing in the now-gloomy atmosphere of the tent. Tears poured down her face.
“Let me ask you once again,” I insisted. “Why did you do this?”
Through her tears, Eumith was the one to answer me. “T-to save the children! That’s what he told us we were doing. He said we were saving the children!”
“Saving them, you say?”
Eumith sobbed so forcefully that she could no longer speak coherently. The young man they called Ben spoke in her stead: “Queen Luxeria, surely you’ve noticed that all of us are mages. We didn’t come to perform in this tent for the fun of it. Some of us were disowned by our families. Eumith was abused for her gift, and Anita—”
“My magic ran rampant, which made villagers cast out my entire family,” Anita said. “Ultimately, this led to the death of my parents.”
“Everyone here has a similar story to tell,” Ben told me. “We founded Étoile so we could exist in peace, even though we all have magic. Especially because we have magic.” His words were sincere and true. “Once we got our business set up, we traveled from town to town, prioritizing the ones that lacked entertainment facilities. It led us to a lot of places out in the countryside.”
As though in answer, the other troupe members’ hearts cried out in agony. Their lamentations seeped into my mind.
“We saw the same old story in every one of those towns. Kids who were mistreated like we were,” Ben went on. “At first, we just recruited them into the troupe, but we hit capacity fast. We couldn’t just ignore their plight…”
“Which is when Karl came into play, I assume,” I said.
“He told us he’d save them! He said he’d teach them how to control their magic, how to live a normal life! He promised it all!”
The researchers in Celden probably did teach these children how to control their magic. Though not in any humane fashion, certainly…
“Why did you trust him with the children?” I asked.
“Because he said he was a servant of House Beckford…”
I did not blame them for trusting a nobleman. After all, it was the royal family that appointed the Great Five to their positions. Nevertheless, the performers deserved scorn for trusting him so blindly and for putting themselves and all those children in danger.
“To clarify…you knew nothing, and you merely wanted to help the children?”
They all nodded tentatively in unison.
I sighed. “You’ve caused quite a mess.”
“What?!”
“Is this not the case? At the end of the day, it is your fault that these children are suffering.”
“Well, we didn’t—”
“You didn’t know? Do you think that’s a good enough excuse? If you wanted to save those children, you should’ve looked after them from the beginning. This half-baked approach you’ve chosen—shuffling them off to some stranger—has only hurt them in the end.”
“So should we have just ignored them?!”
“Given the result of your actions, that may have been the better choice.”
“No!”
“Are you listening to me? You should’ve taken care of them yourselves. Why did you hand them over? Why were you so careless? I will admit that your resolve is impressive, but your decisions have consequences. No children were saved. Not a single one.”
Anita shot to her feet, thoroughly startling me. How is she moving? Heart Realm is still active! Yet even as my magic flowed, she took tiny, shaky steps toward me.
“I-I know asking this is unbelievably selfish, but can you save the children, Queen Luxeria?” Tears pouring down her face, she kneeled before me and shouted, “Please! Those children deserve safety! They deserve love!”
“Do you intend to have another party take them in the end?” I asked.
“No! I will join your mission, Queen Luxeria, even if you deny me. And if you desire my assistance, I will do anything! Until those children are safe again, I won’t take my eyes off you—not for a second!”
Her eyes were filled with tears of sorrow and frustration; her voice echoed through the tent. Desperation fueled her spirit—so much so that it overwhelmed me.
“I see. Then by all means, join me,” I said.
“Wait! I’ll come with her!”
“Me too!”
One by one, more members of the troupe spoke up. In the end, they all offered to help me.
“I’m afraid I cannot have such a large group of people with me at all times,” I said. “Anita will act as your representative. In exchange, I’d like the rest of you to be my eyes and ears.”
“And what is it you want us to do?” Eumith asked cautiously.
“If the request seems unreasonable, you may reject it. I mostly wish to hear detailed accounts of your previous meetings with Karl and for you to follow my orders when you see him next. There may also be requests to send me reports regarding the state of the towns your troupe visits.”
“Okay.”
“Understood.”
That settled, I called out, “Tommy?”
Tommy appeared at my side not a second later. “Right here, Your Majesty.”
“I leave these people to you. Make sure they say nothing regarding Karl to anyone else.”
“Will do,” he replied.
“I will be leaving now. Anita, gather your belongings if you wish to accompany me. I will wait for you outside.”
“Okay. I’ll get ready right away.”
Tommy and I left the tent along with our soldiers. As we walked, I gave Tommy additional orders. “Tell your men stationed at the exits that our mission was a success thanks to their help. I will be sure to convey my thanks directly later. Unfortunately, I must ask that they keep their posts. We cannot trust the troupe just yet.”
“They can handle it. I figured a few extra might come in handy, so I have them standing by a little ways from here.”
“Excellent. We shall wait here until Anita and your replacements arrive.”
“Got it.” Tommy paused, then asked a brazen question: “I assume you didn’t use your magic to make them confess because you wanted to get them on our side, right?”
I looked around to see if anyone was listening.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m using my magic to ensure only the two of us can hear each other right now.”
It was safe to speak, then. “To be honest, I hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly.”
“Really? I figured you would’ve at least considered it as a possibility.”
“I did want their help in pinning down Karl, since it’s the least they can do to make up for their transgressions. But while my magic can compel people to perform actions, it’s difficult to ensure full and unconditional cooperation. Hence why I avoided using it during the questioning phase.”
“How kind of you,” Tommy said dryly. “As for their atonement, wouldn’t that be saving the children?”
“It would. But I doubt they could pull that off, so I don’t expect too much from them. I thought perhaps I could win over their cooperation. I never dreamed they’d prostrate themselves before me as they have.”
“They’ve got their own pride, that’s for sure.”
“Perhaps.”
“At any rate, how are we going to punish Étoile? I sympathize with them, sure, but they’ve gone too far. While most of the children they captured were in dire straits, as they described, there were still a few who could have lived a normal life.”
“It is regrettable that the magical children of our kingdom have lived such dreadfully unfortunate lives,” I admitted. “Though I will say, it seemed a few of those troupe members were overreacting a bit.”
“Definitely,” Tommy agreed. “Hmm. Maybe I’m overthinking their punishment. Getting run ragged by you will probably be punishment enough.”
“How rude,” I chided him.
Tommy shrugged. He probably knew too many examples of my harsh deeds to name.
“You have the right idea, though. I will make them work for me,” I said. “Human labor is always a valuable resource, and I will not allow them to escape their duty through death. And once we’ve saved those young mages, I will ensure that Étoile never puts another child in danger again.”
“I suppose that works. I’m sure you’ll get good use out of them.”
“Hopefully.”
Just as we wrapped up our talk, Anita and a soldier I’d stationed within the tent emerged.
“Let us return to the palace.”
Thus ended my first casual stroll around the capital.